Codename: Vesuvius
by Maritina Choi
Summary: [AU - 11 years after the YGO!DM series] It came as a surprise for Seto Kaiba when Mokuba returns from South Korea after five years (as Mokuba has cut off contact). Just as Kaiba thought Mokuba would finally agree to become the next KaibaCorp president, Mokuba suddenly meets a friend from school and things have gone towards ways he has not expected. SKxOC


Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! I only own the story constructed in this fanfiction and my original character(s).

* * *

_**Codename: Vesuvius**_

**Chapter I**

Eleven years had passed since Battle City and the ordeal with the Nameless Pharaoh.

The 28-year old president and CEO of multi-national gaming company Kaiba Corporation, Seto Kaiba, chose to lie low from the spotlight and succumb himself to work in his office, expanding Kaiba Land around the world and developing new trends and technologies in different games, not only limited to Duel Monsters as it has been mostly known, but also to other games. Within those ten years, he had already established an unbreakable foundation in the world of gaming, securing the future of his company and making him one of the top 10 richest people of the world.

However, the fast and continued upward progression of Kaiba Corporation cost high. It was five years ago when he and his younger brother Mokuba had a huge fight regarding the future of Kaiba Corporation. Kaiba had always set Mokuba to inherit the company, but the latter refused, choosing to devote instead on video game design, his field of interest. Though happy that games still had a large part in his younger brother's heart, the fact that the latter refused the president position created a huge tension between them. The conflict had not been resolved even after Mokuba left for South Korea to pursue his undergraduate education (majoring in game software). Since then, Mokuba did not return to Domino, Japan even once. He did not even bother to keep in touch with his older brother on those years. Thus, Kaiba succumbed to nonstop working hours, trying to escape from the fact that he had just lost the only person important to him.

Today, then, was just another work day for him.

But then for a change, he chose to enter through the front glass doors of the KaibaCorp building instead of the back door which he usually utilized to avoid the rest of the employees and the media stalking on him occasionally.

As soon as the limousine stopped at the front of KaibaCorp, Kaiba instantly went out of it and slammed the door. He walked straight towards the building, his stance intimidating the people around him and wearing his usual stone-faced expression.

Suddenly, someone bumped on him. Though the collision was hard, Kaiba remained standing while the person who collided onto him landed on the sidewalk.

Extremely pissed off, Kaiba turns to face the person who collided onto him. "Look at where you're going, you-" He paused as he found the person gone on his sight. _That bastard_, he thought.

A loud "I'm sorry!" in heavily accented English was heard instead from the opposite direction. Kaiba turned his head on the sound, and saw the back of a woman with short red hair. The woman was running, though it could not be denied that she had also been _dragging_ her right leg.

_Troublesome_, he thought as he concluded that further pursuing the matter would be such a waste of time. He was about to start walking again when he noticed what seemed to be a card on the sidewalk. He picked it up and took a look.

It was an I.D. card, with a picture of a young woman with short red hair, green eyes, and a deadpan expression.

_Kim Seung-ri_, Kaiba read from the I.D. card. From briefly looking at it, he already deduced Kim Seung-ri as a post-graduate student of the School of Computer Science and Engineering at Domino University.

"Hn. Domino University? Interesting." Kaiba made a mental note to deal with this Kim Seung-ri later, or whenever he sees her. As he reached the front entrance, he put the I.D. card on his pocket and went on inside the building to face another loaded work day.

...

_Shit. I'm late! _Kim Seung-ri thought as she frantically checks her watch.

It was 7:40 in the morning. She had been running for the past 15 minutes since she got off from the underground train, hoping to reach her thesis adviser within five minutes for a scheduled meeting. At the same time, she had been trying to ignore the sharp pain on her right leg, which only escalated as she ran.

Seung-ri managed to reach her destination: Domino University. Slightly limping, she quickly walked her way towards the campus. She was about to enter the front gate when a security guard raised his hand across, blocking her way. As she was already running late for the meeting, she got irritated at this.

"I.D. card, please?" the security guard asked her.

Sighing, Seung-ri casually put her hand in her pocket to take her I.D. out, only to find it gone. She turned pale. _Gone,_ she thought, nervous. She frantically checked all of the pockets, but still no I.D. card.

The security guard looked at her quite suspiciously.

"Fine!" she muttered in her mother tongue, already exasperated. From her bag, she took out what looked like a small pouch with the size of a passport. From the pouch, she took out her school registration certificate and her alien registration card, showing them to the security guard.

"Look," Seung-ri said in accented English, "I think I lost my I.D. card on my way here but this is proof that I'm a Domino University student!"

The security guard did not comprehend what Seung-ri was saying, but seeing that she had proven her identity as a student, he let her in the campus.

After securing her school registration certificate and her alien registration card on the pouch and carefully keeping it on her bag, she ran off towards one of the buildings despite the continuous sharp pain on her right leg.

...

As the elevator door was slowly opening, Kaiba had been hearing murmurs from employees, which immediately stopped as they see him. Of course, no one wants to risk losing a job and life just because of being on the president's wrong side. Though tempted to ask what was going on, Kaiba chose to show his disinterest and just went straight to his own office.

He took out his keycard from his suit pocket and was about to slide it on its reader when he noticed that the door was unlocked. _Is that what the murmuring has been about?_, he thought. Immediately suspicious, he entered his office with caution, silently paging for security to be ready for action just in case something wrong was about to happen.

As he walked slowly towards his desk, he suddenly found the back of his chair facing him, and seeing a hand on its arm rest signified that someone occupied the chair. Though annoyed that someone else is occupying the president's, or rather _his_, chair, Kaiba tried to calm down and clear his mind to assess the current situation.

That person spoke up, sensing the presence of Kaiba.

"South Korea, with the present population of 50 million, is listed as one of the highly-developed countries in the world. The country has also been known as the 'Mecca of e-Sports' and up until this point they have been living up to this nickname..."

_That voice... _Kaiba's face registered surprise.

The person on the chair might have sensed this, but nevertheless continued.

"A fair number of them are game enthusiasts, to the point that some of them are even professional game players. Video games have always been one of the pastimes of the youth and even the adults. In fact, most of the South Korean youth have been so addicted to video games to the point that even the government took action about it. But then I've always wondered why Kaiba Corporation didn't even think of expanding its market to that country..."

But then Kaiba couldn't be so sure... he had to be careful. "What are you trying to say, then?" he asked.

The person let out a sigh. "Kaiba Corporation... can also build a future on South Korea. That's what I have concluded though, after five years of staying there." The chair was finally turned around, revealing the now 23-year old Mokuba Kaiba, who had his long black locks tied on a ponytail and still maintained his youthful countenance even after five years of staying in another country.

"Mokuba!" a greatly shocked Kaiba couldn't help but be speechless.

"Therefore, _nii-sama_," Mokuba stood from the president's chair and sat on the vacant part of the desk as he used to do back then when he was younger, "don't you ever think that I won't ever support you and the company just because I won't accept the position of president. Besides, we're brothers, right?"

Kaiba chuckled. He would not show it but he'd admit that he really missed his younger brother. After all, those five years have been _absolutely long_ for him. "Then, I presume you're sorry and that you finally thought about revoking it?"

"I really felt bad about leaving that way and I'm sorry for that. But still, no. I still don't want to be the next president. Though," Mokuba paused for a while to think, "if you're really _that_ worried, I can help you out..."

Mokuba stood up from the desk and walked towards his bag located a few meters away, searching for something inside it.

Kaiba finally sat on his chair, placing his silver briefcase on the vacant spot that Mokuba just left. He took out his laptop, woke it up from sleep mode, and started typing away as soon as it had already started up.

"That is, if you don't have a girlfriend or a wife yet," Mokuba finished his statement as he finally found what he is looking for in his bag, taking out a black folder. He then walked towards a couch and sat.

Surprised at his younger brother's statement, Kaiba paused his typing. "What?"

"_Nii-sama_, surely you at least had a significant other within those five years I'm gone, right?"

"None. You know that I don't have time for that," he said in quite a stern way and continued typing, trying to dismiss the topic.

Though initially surprised, Mokuba smiled mischievously, which is fortunately not seen by his older brother. "Oh great! Because I think I know the right woman just for you!"

Kaiba stopped typing and looked at his younger brother, stunned.

Mokuba laughed, highly amused at his own idea. "She's a close friend of mine from school. I heard she's staying here in Japan for her post-graduate degree, though I don't know where exactly... Haven't seen her for quite a long time, though..."

Kaiba sighed. "Since when did you play matchmaker, huh?"

"Oh c'mon, _nii-sama_! Let's face it: I won't be here at your side forever. Someday, I'd also have a family of my own and I do think you should, too. Your future wife would surely be able to provide you the next president of Kaiba Corporation. Besides, you're already 28! It's not like you're too young to get married! I don't want you to grow old alone, _nii-sama_. I also want you to be happy, too. This is the only way that I can help out for the future of KaibaCorp."

Kaiba massaged his temples, obviously stressed out. Though he knew that the topic of marrying and establishing his own family would eventually come up, he did not expect it to be sooner (at least in his own terms). For the first time in his life, he felt at loss of what to do next.

Mokuba saw his older brother's confused expression, and thought that he shouldn't have surprised him like that. Besides, they hadn't been in contact for five years and the elder Kaiba might have changed at some point in life, but then on the other hand, he thought that this topic should have been brought up way before.

He stood from the couch and placed the black folder on Kaiba's desk. "This is my gift for you... and please, think about what I said, _nii-sama_." He then took his bag and carried it with him, ready to leave. "I'll just tour around the building and check out what I might have missed. I'll be back." A few moments later, he finally left the president's office and its still-confused owner, whose head rested on his own palms.

As the door closed, Kaiba finally looked up. He tried returning to his work but the afterthought Mokuba left him still lingered on his mind, distracting him fully. He then decided to check on Mokuba's "gift", which was the black folder that the latter took out from his bag.

He can't help but smile at the "gift" Mokuba gave: it was the latter's bachelor's degree diploma from one of the few and best universities in the world in terms of game software creation and design, Myeongsong University in South Korea. It was something that Mokuba accomplished on his own, without any help from him, and for that he was proud of him.

...

Though made it on time, Seung-ri never expected that her meeting with her thesis adviser would take five hours. It had been the longest meeting ever. The pain on her right leg still persisted, getting sharper as time passed, and skipping lunch did not definitely help. Though she was glad that things about her thesis proposal had been finally settled on that meeting, she could not fully appreciate it due to the fact that she could not even stand after leaving her right leg unattended. In the end, her adviser had to call the university hospital after she almost fainted because of excruciating pain.

The trip to the university hospital was a short one, though on that time Seung-ri was forced to sit on a wheelchair, something that she did not really like. After undergoing series of tests and waiting for hours, the metal brace that had been supporting her right leg were replaced to a new (and better) one. She was also prescribed painkillers and required to use a right forearm crutch for at least a week. Though she also disliked crutches, she thought it to be better than being on a wheelchair. She didn't like how wheelchairs limit her movement, especially that she used to have a fully-functional right leg and move a lot in the past.

It was already late afternoon when she finally left the Domino University grounds. Though initially relieved that she finally got to go home to her apartment in Tokyo (which is at least forty-five minutes away from Domino), she had no choice but to walk in order to reach the nearest subway train station as buses were full at this time of the day and given her condition, riding a bus would be at her disadvantage.

And there was the problem about her lost I.D. card.

She had been trying to remember where she lost it while she walked. She tried remembering the places that she passed by on her way to the university. It took her long to the point that she became already frustrated.

Then she suddenly remembered: _outside Kaiba Corporation_! There, she bumped on someone she didn't even get to see much who as she was in a rush, only remembering that someone as a very tall guy with brown hair and blue eyes. She still even owed a proper apology to him, whoever could that be. _I might have lost my I.D. there... he might have even found it_, she thought. For her, that might be a great possibility.

Settling at this thought, she walked slowly until she reached the Kaiba Corporation headquarters building, looking around the ground as she searched for her I.D.

At the same time, the Kaiba brothers, surrounded by bodyguards in suits, were leaving the building through the front glass doors.

Startled at the sound created from this, Seung-ri looked up and turned her head to her left. Her green eyes landed upon the tall guy with brown hair and blue eyes, who also happened to look at her directly at the same time. _Oh no, it's the guy who I bumped into!_ The dominant aura that she sensed from him made her nervous. She was almost torn between approaching him to give a proper apology or to "run away in fear" (and likely damage her right leg again).

Kaiba paused from walking as soon as he saw her, who had now become a familiar face thanks to her lost I.D. card. He smirked, expecting that the redhead would pass by to look for it, which was still in fact kept hidden on his pocket. _She looked better in personal, though..._ He frowned at the thought that suddenly popped in his mind.

Mokuba, who had been telling stories of his stay abroad, stopped talking when he noticed his older brother standing in one place, looking at something... or rather _someone_, as he finally checked out. His eyes widened in surprise. "_Noona_?"

_"_Noona_"? _Kaiba frowned.

Seung-ri snapped from her "trance" and turned to look at the owner of the voice, who happened to be Mokuba... who happened to be _her few close friends_. _No way..._ she thought. "...Mokuba?" she inquired tentatively.

Mokuba grinned widely as he nodded. "Never thought I'd meet you here, Seung-ri-_noona_!" he said in Korean.

The sudden switch in language startled Kaiba a bit. Of all the languages he had to learn and study back then, Korean was the one he _never_ bothered to study. But then it shocked him more to see Mokuba suddenly run towards the redhead and hug her, as if they were friends who had been reunited after a long time...

_"Haven't seen her for quite a long time, though..."_

Kaiba suddenly remembered what Mokuba had said last morning.

_"She's a close friend of mine from school. I heard she's staying here in Japan for her post-graduate degree..."_

_Post-graduate degree..._ Kaiba also remembered the details he got from the I.D.: _Student, Graduate Studies... School of Computer Science and Engineering..._

Putting the pieces of the puzzle together, Kaiba came into a realization.

_Impossible,_ he thought afterward.

As much as he wanted to think of it as impossible, he could not deny the fact that what he saw might have just confirmed what his younger brother had said.

* * *

_noona_ (Korean) - older sister (the term a guy uses when calling his older sister, though in some cases it can also be used when a guy has a female friend a few years older than him who he already considers as an older sister).

_nii-sama_ (Japanese) - [honorable] older brother (this is what Mokuba calls Seto on the Japanese series).

**A/N**: This was a fanfic created mainly out of distraction while writing my thesis paper. Yeah, sorry for that. Though I'm not really a good writer and not exactly new at writing fanfiction, this might also be in danger for deletion but if you do see a potential in this fanfic and want me to continue, please tell me through reviewing. I have been testing the waters especially in terms of the canon characters so I'm sorry if I accidentally made them OOC and I'd appreciate it if you'd also help me on characterization and character development in general. Otherwise, your reviews will be greatly appreciated as it will be a great help especially to those likes of me who are slowly returning to writing stories like these after a long time (of writing solely academic papers hahahaha) so please do leave one. Thank you.


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